


Initiation

by Lomaksarne



Series: Fate AU [2]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Holy Grail War (Fate), M/M, fate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27708410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lomaksarne/pseuds/Lomaksarne
Summary: Maglor summoned Maedhros to fight in the Grail War, but ran into some other acquaintances.
Relationships: Maedhros | Maitimo/Maglor | Makalaurë
Series: Fate AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026555
Kudos: 5





	Initiation

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a more detailed plot of this story, with stitches and strange changes to the Middle Earth and Fate settings, Maedhros/Maglor relationship and spoilers for the final chapter of the The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II, so watch at your own discretion!  
> I am not a native speaker and most of this article uses translator.  
> See the corresponding pictures on https://lomaksarne.lofter.com/post/1ea0da4d_1cae97bc2  
> Series里另一篇是中文版

They say that the age of the Gods has long since ended.

People still vaguely remember the Great Catastrophe that affected the whole world, with floods raging, mountains crumbling, land and sea being shattered and rebuilt, and the magic and legends of ancient times vanishing with it. With the Great Catastrophe, the Gods abandoned the world. (In fact, the Catastrophe stemmed from an attempted prison break by Melkor, after which Valar completely severed the connection between Valinor and Middle Earth in order to prevent the forces of darkness from influencing Middle Earth again.)

In the thousands of years that followed, a group of human beings who stole the remains of "magic" and tried to reach the "root" of the world were known as magicians.

In the 20th century, in a small town in Europe, a few families of magicians built a ritual called the Holy Grail War, based on a certain "source of magic" in order to find the "root". This magic ritual, known as "all wishes come true", was intended to use a wishing machine as a decoy to perform the “Initiation” through the summoning of the masters. The soul and body of a servant are constructed by drawing magic from the memories of the entire world; when the servant dies, his soul is infused into the Holy Grail. After six of the seven servants die, the Grail can use their souls to return to the temple of the Gods, opening the door to the "root".

In essence, this "Grail War" is a massive magic trick using the Source of Magic to steal the power of the Secret Fire and counterfeit Fëa. Theoretically, after the Grail releases these fake Fëa, they will be returned to Velinor, where the Grail will be able to use this as a guide to open the path to the throne of the Gods.

The ritual was strongly supported by a certain mysterious figure who personally oversaw the construction of the magic formula. But in reality, the Grail formula had already been altered by him, and when the ritual is finally completed, the "source of magic" at the heart of the Grail would burn the Fëa, and with a flash of fire, an even greater ritual will be set in motion: an unimaginable amount of magic will be gathered at the heart of the Grail, and the mystic will use it to break through the Walls of Night and free the Great Enemy.

The Mystic - actually Mairon, who robbed a human body after surviving into the 20th century - didn't know that his actions were always being watched.

One afternoon, Maglor was struck by a note that falls from the sky. The paper was in the same dapper Cirth font as before, with an urgent message from the character maker - "Anomaly. See you at the old place."

They met at a centuries-old tavern, Daeron's hair a little shorter again, styled in the popular hairstyle of the era, and Maglor in the same fluffy ponytail as before.

"I'm feeling an unusual flow of magic," Daeron cut to the chase, "After observing it for most of the year, it was confirmed that the Society of Magicians was doing a huge scale ritual involving something that human magic couldn't achieve - it was the magic of our time. Someone is messing with it, and I suspect some shadowy necromancer."

Daeron didn't know as much about magic as Maglor, who had once infiltrated the Society of Magicians to learn their technique, so he came to request the Noldo's aid. They studied the matter for a few more days, and eventually deduced roughly what Mairon was up to.

After that, the two elves unsuccessfully warned the Magician's Guild (almost all human magicians were corrupted by Mairon) and watched as the Grail War rituals kicked in, Maglor had to perform his own servant summoning to disrupt Mairon's plans.

Watching Maglor draw the last few strokes of his summoning, Daeron, who had been silent to help, finally stifled, "Are you sure you don't want to use a holy relic?"

"If there is no catalyst, the Grail will choose the servant based on the master," Maglor stood up and patted the dirt on his knee, "...... I have faith."

He lifted his hand and began to chant. As the smoke cleared, the tall figure called out took a step forward as if to speak, but silence filled the area for a moment as their eyes looked at each other.

Daeron swore to God that he had known Maglor for ten thousand years, and that was the first time he had seen the latter's tears. Finally the Noldo went forward and clung to the figure the Grail had forged - his elder brother.

Although his right hand had been restored by the Grail, this "Maedhros" was incomplete - after all, he was only a forgery constructed by magic. His memory of Valinor was a blank, for the Grail could not extract that which was already out of this world. But that didn't affect the fiery, sad emotions that welled up in his eyes when he looked at Maglor.

For the first two days of the battle it was just Maglor and his servant, Daeron was only willing to do off-site assistance - the bottom line was that he didn't want to use his powers to harness nature and hurt people, and Maglor knew that. By the third day, the unexpected shows up - as Maglor is cornered by Archer's sneak attack, he heard a voice that comes straight from the depths of his mind.

"Heads up!"

Maglor raised his eyes and saw the shimmering object plummeting towards him - it was his own long-lost sword. He reached out to catch the weapon to checkmate the enemy's attack, while the ground shook and countless vines broke through the earth, stabbing the servant on the opposite side. Maglor heard Daeron's scream, "......Thranduil!"

And so, another old demon wandering the land joined the Grail War.

On the fifth day, only Saber, Lancer and Caster are left alive, and during the night, Maglor and the others split up to check on Lancer. As Maglor was walking alone through the alley, a change suddenly came about. He didn't even feel the attacker, and he didn't have time to defend himself. But the dagger stopped in front of him, and the assailant's hood was lifted by the wind, revealing a familiar, shocked face of the caster. Maglor, who was about to call saber back with Command Seal, also froze, gazing incredulously at the ...... face in front of him that looked exactly like his own.

"You're ......."

It was indeed possible ...... he realized that he had forgotten that "Maglor" was also already a part of history. At the end of the First Age, that second son of Feanor, scarred from body to spirit, had been called out as caster in this Grail War.

They did not speak for a long while, and finally the real Maglor dropped his eyes to look at the caster's hands hidden in the darkness and asked softly, "Does it still hurt?"

Caster was stunned for a second: "...... no. Fixed by the Holy Grail ......"

Maglor briefly told caster what he knew about the Grail War and they exchanged information, Maglor learned that caster and lancer's masters had made an alliance at the beginning of the war, caster's master's Command Seal had been depleted and lancer's master should have one to two left.

"In other words, you are going to destroy the Grail to stop the darkness from returning." Caster was almost smiling while saying those words, "Then I would die for that, in exchange for that real me to make it to the end of the world."

"Thank you." Maglor said heartily.

"You are thanking yourself," said the caster, "and you have not told me who your servant is."

"If it were me, I should have guessed, shouldn't I?"

Maglor heard caster's sudden heavy breathing - he could hardly bear to look at the latter's face. He remembered how painful he had just lost his elder brother. Before caster could speak, he snapped, "If you'd like to see him ......"

"No," Caster gripped his arm hard, "don't let him know I'm here or we'll have to become enemies ......" his voice trembled with anxiety, "Please kill me, please."

"I ......"

Caster abruptly stepped back. "Master told me to go back." His face was hidden into the darkness, "Come find me tomorrow! I will not resist ......" the last words were very, very soft, "Goodbye, Kanafinwe."

That night, Maglor urgently called Thranduil and Daeron to discuss a solution. Before they went to rest separately, Daeron asked: "Only beings with wishes can be summoned as servants, Maglor. What's your 'wish'?"

"I know what his wish would have been. If it were me then, there would be only one wish." Maglor looked out the window, "But ......"

The next day at first all went well, caster was waiting for them alone at the appointed spot. Maglor drew his sword and looked ‘himself’ not far away stretching out his arms. They stared at each other, a thousand unspoken words already flowing out of the identical eyes.

Caster simply said, "Do it."

They heard a voice just moments before the blade ripped through the body, "By Command Seal, Order!"

Magic with wind pressure suddenly surged out from around caster, and Maglor stumbled back, seeing the caster's master step out from a short distance away, the back of his hand leaping with flaming light.

"--Caster, unfold Noble Phantasm!"

The sudden increase in gravity pushed Maglor hard to the ground and he heard caster's angry cry, "No!" But Master's second command had followed, everything around Maglor became a chaos, darkness struck on him, and the last thing Maglor realized was that this was Noble Phantasm for one man and that Daeron should still have a chance of escaping-

"Run away!" He knew Daeron could hear him, "Run-"

Reality Marble-Noldolante, unfolded.

In his own mind's image he heard the earth groaning, the mountains roaring, the furious sea crushing everything, the palaces and halls shattering and crashing down on his head; he was stripped of all faculties, all he could feel was the unbearable pain, blood was rushing against his body almost tearing it from within; in his mind, a melody rang out like a flood of bells, occupying all his thoughts, that was the lament he had written with his own hands -

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Then the flames tore through the sky, igniting a fire that no night could extinguish, the pain was gone, and Maglor fell to his knees spitting out blood, seeing with blurred vision that Saber was plunging his sword into Caster's chest. Fire surrounded them, and the last thing Maglor witnessed before passing out completely was Saber clinging to his brother, while Caster raising his hand as if to touch his face, and then just like that he turned into a flicker of light.

It was late afternoon when Maglor awoke, Thranduil sitting guard beside him. He struggled to lift his upper body, with his newly healed bones still aching.

"Where's Saber?" He asked huskily.

"The magic supply was too low so he disappeared after he handed you over to us, I expect it will be some time before he recovers." Thranduil handed him a glass of water, "It is near miraculous that he was able to forcibly unfold Noble Phantasm with his master severely injured. ...... Are you going to ask why he appeared? I did branch him far enough away, but he still seemed to be able to sense you. I gave him magic to adjust the relative time so that he could get to where you were in time."

"You saved me again, thanks." Maglor whispered.

"No, just help me pay my rent for a hundred years."

"......"

"Oh, " Thranduil added before he left, "Daeron read that Master's memories and found his extra Command Seals were given to him by Mairon. We have no idea how many Command Seals are still hidden, so be careful tomorrow."

It took several hours before Maglor managed to call saber out. His servant almost ran up to him. Maglor didn't dare look him in the eye, "I'm sorry."

"You really should say you're sorry, Kano," Saber said, "When I picked you up, you were covered in blood ...... I thought... ..."

Maglor took his hand in silence, feeling the sudden increase in force on his hand.

"But ...... I should say I'm sorry to you first." Saber dropped his head, "When he disappeared I heard him say that his only wish was to see me again ...... so his wish has been granted." His voice almost took on a cryptic tone, "I apologize again, if I had known it would cause you so much pain, I never would have ......"

Maglor pulled him into his arms. "I understand your choice and I don't blame you." He murmured, "It was only a temporary parting ...... No matter how long there is still time ahead, our paths will surely cross again at the end of the world."

They held each other in silence for a few moments until Saber petulantly buried his face in the side of Maglor's neck and rubbed against it. "Kano, I'm so tired and the magic is completely inadequate ......" he nibbled on his brother's earlobe, "...... to me. "

"Nelyafinwe, don't push your luck!"

Maglor's protest was interrupted by Saber with a kiss. Flames rained down on him and he closed his eyes, melting into the unreal blaze.

They both knew that this was the last night of theirs. The next day, the seventh, would bring the final curtain on the Grail War.

The next day, Maglor exhausted the Command Seal and defeated Lancer near the center of the Holy Grail ceremony. After the Knight Maiden's figure disappeared, the mountains shook with a hidden vibration and the final ritual began. Meanwhile, Mairon, who resided in a human body, emerged from the shadows, smiling.

"Welcome, the Firstborns," he spread his arms wide, "Please enjoy one of my most prized creations, the Great Grail."

Thranduil didn't hesitate to raise his gun and fire, surprisingly Mairon's body had no added protection, and in a flash he was almost shot to pieces. The bloodstained figure leaned against the rock behind him, still smiling, "Why is this necessary? Why don't you join me in celebrating the return of my Lord and let the end come to the land ...... By then, the gates of Valinor will be open again, and those you wish to see -" his eyes swept over the elves present one by one. "Whether brothers, sons or lovers, you will be reunited, and together you will be happy in the new world. Why hold on to this fake that will be gone in a few minutes?"

"Because the song isn't over," Maglor said coldly, "We will not allow you to deprive the stories that have not been sung."

The dark shadows soared into the air and the Maia laughed, "Then try! Once again, face your doom! I can't wait to see the look on your face, Feanorian!"

After a few minutes, the elves understood where this strange confidence of Mairon's came from.

At the central point of the Grail ritual, where the densely packed incantations converged, a jewel was silently suspended. That was the source of the Holy Grail's magic, the driver of the entire ritual, and that was-.

"Silmaril ...... "Maglor blanched.

The Silmaril that had sunk into the Earth's core with Maedhros, brought near the surface during thousands of years of geological movement, and then found and hidden deep by some magician family. It was the most sacred object that could not be destroyed. By now the first ritual was over, fueled by the souls of the six servant, and the second ritual's jutsu slowly unfolded.

Saber gritted his teeth and raised his sword, but Maglor stopped him, "Wait! If you can't destroy that diamond at once, and instead trigger a jutsu oscillation, there may be unpredictable consequences ...... but your current magic can't do the job of destroying it, none of us can."

Dead silence enveloped the four until Daeron suddenly looked up.

"Do you know the Second Prophecy?"

"That is......?"

"It is a prophecy of the end of the world, passed down among the most ancient creatures of what was once Middle-earth. I have heard it sung by Tom Bombadil when I was a guest in his house, and I have caught it on the wind as I chased the footsteps of the Shepherd of the Trees. It says that on that day Morgoth will return and be put to death, the scattered Elven jewels will be found, Maedhros will shatter them and light will flow in all directions. On that day the Gods will sing, and the dead will return ......" Daeron whispered, "None of us can destroy Silmaril...... but maybe the real Maedhros could."

"But I'm not the real him," saber said.

"You could be." Daeron took a step forward, his voice rising in pitch with rare excitement, "There is inexhaustible magic here, and maybe saber can somehow connect to the real Maedhros!"

"The secret art of human magicians, the core spell through which the Grail replicates Fëa......" Maglor said, "'Initiation'. But it only connects downward to the earth, not upward to the Temple of Souls."

"Time." Thranduil gazed into Maglor's eyes, "If infinite time is applied, 'down' becomes 'up' after the limit is crossed, and at the end of time, the Fake Fëa can also burn into the original fire!"

For a few moments no one spoke until Daeron shuddered and spoke, "Eru ...... theoretically, this really works. This way we would create a Reality Marble outside of this time to prefigure the Last Battle. But ...... as the central part of this method ......"

Maglor turned and looked at Saber.

"Nelyo, you will have to survive uncountable hours alone." He muttered.

The spell flickered wildly all around, red light converging on Silmaril as the center and the sound of rocks crumbling to the ground. In the smoke and dust Saber's flame-colored hair flipped, brilliant as a morning glow in the light. He was silent.

It took almost all his strength for Maglor to ask the words.

"...... Will you?"

Saber stepped forward, smiled and leaned over, kissing Master's forehead lightly.

"Kano, you have wandered alone for so long ......" he said in Maglor's ear, "Let me do it this time, let me go to the end of time for you."

Maglor watched as the saber walked into the center of the phalanx the elves had constructed. White light enveloped the servant's body, time was accelerated to its limits, how many years were compressed into ...... a thousand years, or tens of thousands? A moment later the rain of flames poured down, and in the midst of the instantly unfolding boundary of time, Maglor saw a flash of a figure, his brother raising his sword high ......

The glow flowed and the elves were able to get a glimpse of the magnificence of the end before the magic failed. Then all was silent, and there was no longer any trace of the red-haired elf.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> * The magic at the end to summon the true Maedhros was modified from Heartless' god-making magic in The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II.


End file.
